New Japan returns to the US today for the next even under the rebranded STRONG LIVE label, Fighting Spirit Unleashed. 4 title matches headline a stacked card-first up, STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia comes to the US to defend the title against Hyan. In the second title match, Hikuleo & El Phantasmo defend the STRONG Tag Team Championship against the unique duo of Alex Zayne & Lance Archer. Then it’s a potential hoss fight as STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston defends the title against HENARE. Finally, in the main event, it’s a New Japan special as NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga defends against Shingo Takagi. All that and much more from the LA Dojo, New Japan, Mexico and more.
Today’s event will be held at Sam’s Town Live inside Sam’s Town Casino Resort in Las Vegas, NV and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese (no separate purchase required this time) and FITE in English (PPV-$19.99, includes live broadcast and unlimited on demand replays). There are 2 pre-show matches which will air on the New Japan World broadcast but maybe not on FITE based on listed start times. The matches are scheduled for 30 minutes before the event. Not all the title matches have a 1 Hour time limit so, including the pre-show matches, I anticipate this event having a total running time of around 3 1/2 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Matt Vandagryff vs. Buck Skynyr
Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Baliyan Akki, Titus Alexander & Jakob Austin Young
PPV/Main Show:
Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb, Fred Rosser & Alex Coughlin in a 4-way for a STRONG Openweight Championship match
Johnnie Robbie & Lluvia vs. Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis
Tom Lawlor vs. Gabriel Kidd
Atlantis 40th Anniversary Match: Atlantis Jr., Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mistico vs. Adrian Quest, Tiger Mask 4, Soberano Jr. & Rocky Romero
STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia vs. Hyan for the title
STRONG Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo vs. Alex Zayne & Lance Archer for the titles
STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston vs. HENARE for the title
Yuya Uemura & SANADA vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga vs. Shingo Takagi for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. The FITE broadcast is not scheduled to begin until 7 PM PT/10 PM ET so the pre-show likely will be only on New Japan World. I will be watching the New Japan World broadcast.
6 PM PT UPDATE: The New Japan World live stream has launched and is in pre-show mode. We should go to the venue in 25-30 minutes. Again, this is not a PPV on the service, no additional purchase is required to watch-just a monthly paid subscription.
6:30 PM PT UPDATE: We’re hopefully about to start as the event logo graphic is now displaying.
6:35 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, NV. Your Japanese hosts are Haruo Murata, Milano Collection A.T. and Miki Motoi. Your English hosts (only on FITE) are Veda Scott & Walker Stewart.
The paid attendance should be announced after the event. The setup is for a full capacity of about 875, and as of earlier today around 725 tickets had been sold so there’s a sellout chance depending on same-day sales. But it sounds like it will be between 750-850, which will be 85-95% capacity. (Update; The announced paid attendance was 801. About 92% full)
There are some very minor audio issues at the start, a tiny bit of occasional static can be heard with the venue audio, but not coming from commentary.
Pre-show:
Match 1: Matt Vandagryff vs. Buck Skynyr. 20 minute time limit
Result: Matt Vandagryff beat Muck Skynyr
Match 2: Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Baliyan Akki, Titus Alexander & Jakob Austin Young. 20 minute time limit
Result: Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs beat Baliyan Akki, Titus Alexander & Jakob Austin Young. Nelson pinned Young after West Coast Crusher.
End Pre-Show. The New Japan World feed will resume when the PPV begins in a few minutes.
(If you missed the pre-show live it is also available on demand on YouTube via the New Japan World YouTube channel)
PPV/Main Show:
Opening video with tonight’s lineup begins at 7:01 PM PT.
The matches begin at 7:06 PM PT.
Match 1: Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb, Fred Rosser & Alex Coughlin in a 4-way for a STRONG Openweight Championship match. 30 minute time limit (huge crowd pop for Kojima’s entrance)
Result: Satoshi Kojima beat Jeff Cobb, Fred Rosser & Alex Coughlin in a 4-way by pinning Rosser. As a result, Kojima is the #1 contender for the STRONG Openweight Championship, meaning what should be the next title shot.
Match 2: Johnnie Robbie & Lluvia vs. Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis. 20 minute time limit. All the women here are from CMLL (Mexico) except Robbie, who is a trainee at the NJPW Academy (formerly the LA Dojo)
Result: Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis beat Johnnie Robbie & Lluvia. Vaquer pinned Robbie after a neckbreaker. Very impressive spot late when Vaquer flew off the top corner and over the guardrails into the crowd to land a big cross-body splash.
Afterwards, Vaquer with microphone in Spanish. But she did state in English that she wanted an IWGP Women’s Championship match. Current champion Mayu Iwatani is to defend the title on 11/18 at Lonestar Shootout in Garland, TX but the opponent is TBA. Until now? Updates to follow.
Match 3: Tom Lawlor vs. Gabriel Kidd. 20 minute time limit
Result: Gabriel Kidd beat Tom Lawlor
Hyan interviewed backstage in English.
Match 4: Atlantis 40th Anniversary Match: Atlantis Jr. (CMLL), Atlantis (CMLL), Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mistico (CMLL) vs. Adrian Quest, Tiger Mask 4, Soberano Jr. (CMLL) & Rocky Romero. 20 minute time limit
Result: Atlantis Jr., Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mistico beat Adrian Quest, Tiger Mask 4, Soberano Jr. & Rocky Romero. Atlantis pinned Quest after a powerbomb. Afterwards, Tanahashi & Mistico stuck around a little longer to send some fans home happy.
Cryptic video promo…Joey Janela is coming to New Japan at Lonestar Shootout. The video suggests he is targeting Toru Yano.
Match 5: STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia vs. Hyan for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia beat Hyan to retain the title. V5 for Giulia.
Match 6: STRONG Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo vs. Alex Zayne & Lance Archer for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo beat Alex Zayne & Lance Archer to retain the titles. Phantasmo pinned Zayne after Super Thunder Kiss 86. V1 for the champs. As soon as it ended, West Coast Wrecking Crew came out for a beatdown on the champs. After that, WCWC with microphone. They say they’re next at Lonestar Shootout. They pose with the belts before leaving.
Match 7: STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston vs. HENARE for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston beat HENARE to retain the title. V4 for Kingston. Next up: Because of his win in the 4-way earlier, Kojima. He came out post-match. With microphone in English. BREAD CLUB IN THE HOUSE! Throwdown in English by Kojima before staredown. Kingston responded in kind (uncensored English). It’s on for Lonestar Shootout.
Announced for 11/10: Jon Moxley, David Finlay, Ultimo Guerrero, Mistico, KENTA. More TBA.
Match 8: Yuya Uemura & SANADA vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito. 20 minute time limit
Result: Time Limit Draw
As Takahashi was leaving, someone came out and tried to win the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship with quick roll-ups but only managed a pair of 2 counts. (Update: It was Danny Limelight)
Main Event: NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga vs. Shingo Takagi for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Shingo Takagi beat NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga to win the title. Takagi becomes the 41st NEVER Openweight Champion. Outstanding match that went almost 30 minutes. Takagi is now a 3-time champion. Takagi with microphone for the post-match victory promo in English. He also demanded a next challenger come out. No takers. But he did promise to come back to the US again soon to end the event.
As the show was about to end…lights out…video played…Trent Beretta (AEW) challenges Takagi for Lonestar Shootout!
A solid event start-to-finish that was definitely elevated by the main event. That was must-see but most of the other matches were good, even what I thought was the worst match was fine and nothing to complain about (Lawlor-Kidd). The only very slight issue was that it wound up being a longer than anticipate event at just over 4 hours including the pre-show. Only a couple of very slight technical issues with the early minor sound stuff and I had a couple of buffering freezes late, but those combined only lasted about 5 seconds, otherwise no problems and as a whole video quality was excellent. If you missed this, either watch it on demand on New Japan World or, if you’re not a subscriber, buy the replay on FITE.
Overall show grade: B+ (without that main event it was still a solid B)
The next US event is Lonestar Shootout on 11/10 at Curtis Culwell Center in Garland Park, TX (Dallas/Ft. Worth area). It is available for pre-order on FITE for $19.99. No word yet on New Japan World broadcast plans but we should know some time next week.
The next event is Monday at Tsubame Municipal Gym in Niigata to continue the Super Junior Tag League. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
